YAHAYA BELLO’S RED HERRINGS

 Muhammed Adejoh urges the immediate former Kogi State governor to present himself at the court to take a plea

Like many other insidious public officials who make merry with public till and engage in theatrics designed to make them walk away without blemish, former Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Adoza Bello is nudged in a hide and seek game, obviously playing red herrings with the country’s anti-graft agency, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) led by Ola Olukayode.

The aim like other unscrupulous public officials is for Bello to go home unscathed and savour his loot despite weighty and damning allegations that he made mincemeat of the finances of Kogi State under his watch as helmsman. He’s accused of fleecing a whopping sum of N80 billion along with three of his accomplices, putting specks on the face of the youth in governance.

Yahaya Bello, was the cynosure of Nigerian youth aspirations when he became governor of Kogi State at 40 in January 2016. Expectations were stoked that he would make a sterling difference in governance away from the horde of old politicians who largely make up the political space. But after eight years in office, not many want to touch him as the face of youth agitation for political power in the country.  Only a thin line separates him from those with feisty hands for lucre. His legacies smirks of bile and oozes with stench.

Apart from the enthronement of the worst form of thuggery sanctioned by his insipid administration via arming his hirelings in “ta, ta, ta, ta,” his savour of debauchery, led to allegations of huge siphoning of the state’s funds for personal ends may have erased hopes that the youth represent the future face of development. 

Worse is that he seeks a clean bill by concocting a dribbling game of hiding away from prosecution. Apart from dodging arrest by officials of the EFCC with the help of Kogi State Governor, Ahmed Usman Ododo, he has refused twice to appear in court to take a plea. Ododo, who misread his status as chief security officer of Kogi State, obviously violated his oath of office by shielding an alleged criminal from lawful arrest. 

Even if Bello now 48, is innocent of the charges preferred against him by the EFCC, playing ostrich may not save him. Up against him is a criminal case that offering sop to Cerberus holding sentry in the biblical Hades, may not vitiate. He needs to present himself before the court to plead his innocence.

The charges by the EFCC against Bello that he fiddled with Kogi State finances along with three of his associates, Ali Bello, Dauda Suleiman and Abdulsalam Hudu, feasting on it like leeches, to invest in prime properties and the payment of school fees in dollars for his children at a blue chip American International School in Abuja, the federal capital is particularly humongous. It was as if Bello was on a rat race and feverish mission to outdo all those undergoing charges of funnelling state funds into private pockets.

The 19 charges bordering on money laundering amount to a total of N80.2 billion. In the charges, EFCC accused him, his nephew Ali Bello, Dauda Suleiman and Abdulsalam Hudu of conspiring to convert the total sum of N80 billion public funds to personal use in February 2016.

The commission alleged that Bello and others “reasonably ought to have known” that the money “forms part of the proceeds of your unlawful activity” – criminal breach of trust.

EFCC also alleged in another count that Bello, between 26 July 2021 and 6 April 2022, in Abuja, aided a firm, E-Traders International Limited, to conceal the aggregate sum of over N3 billion in an account domiciled in Access Bank Plc.

The Federal High Court in Abuja, penultimate Tuesday, ordered the EFCC to serve the former governor with the money laundering charges against him through his lawyer.

The trial judge, Justice Emeka Nwite, issued the order following Bello’s absence from court on Tuesday. It made it the second consecutive time the defendant would fail to attend court for his scheduled arraignment. His absence earlier stalled the arraignment on 18 April.

Earlier on 17 April, the judge issued a warrant of arrest against the former governor. But an attempt by EFCC operatives to arrest Mr Bello based on the arrest warrant that day was obstructed by the police officers attached to his house at Wuse Zone 4, Abuja.

With the proceedings further stalled on Tuesday, the judge granted EFCC’s permission to serve Mr Bello through substituted means. He directed the agency’s prosecutor, Kemi Pinheiro, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), to serve Bello’s lawyer, Abdulwahab Mohammed, dispensing with the broad general legal requirement for personal service in criminal cases.

The judge ordered the EFCC to serve the charges with the accompanying proof of evidence and other documents on the defence lawyer.

Nwite, relying on section 382(4) and (5) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), also ordered Mohammed, having announced an unconditional appearance for Bello, to accept service on behalf of the defendant.

Also, receipts and other documents showing how Yahaya Bello, the former governor of Kogi, paid $845,000 to the American International School in Abuja in advance for his children’s fees have surfaced online.

The receipts were among documents marked as ‘exhibit h’ by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The document also showed a response by the American International School Abuja to EFCC on the agency’s request for a refund of $760,910.84.

“Please forward to us an official written request, with the authentic banking details of the EFCC, for the refund of the above-mentioned funds as previously indicated as part of your investigation into the alleged money laundering activities by the Bello family,” the letter by the school said.

It said further, “Since September 7, 2021, to date, $845,852.84 in tuition and other fees has been deposited into our Bank account. We have calculated the net amount to be transferred and refunded to the State, after deducting the educational services rendered as $760,910.64.

“No further additional fees are expected in respect of tuition as the students’ fees have now been settled until they graduate from ASIA. Should any further deposits be made into ASIA’s bank account/s, we will disclose and inform you immediately without delay.”

The propriety of dealing in dollar transactions for school fees on Nigerian soil is reprehensible. Both Yahaya Bello and the America International School should be charged with economic sabotage as this clearly could have put a huge strain on the exchange rate thereby undermining the Naira. 

EFCC Chairman, Olukayode who is not brooking an eyelid has indicated his agency in pressing on with these charges sending some chill down the spine. I pity Yahaya Bello and his horde of spin doctors and foot soldiers who have been hired to obfuscate the issues on social media. They may have merely compounded his travails.  If Bello is convinced about his innocence, he should physically present himself at the court to take a plea. Is it not anomalous that a man who has opted to play the role of artful dodger is now seeking cover under the rule of law?

Adejoh writes from Abuja